The invention relates to a prefabricated building structure, particularly one suitable for use as a greenhouse.
A wide variety of prefabricated building structures have been designed; many are in current use today. For the most part, they include rigid wall panels which are supported by, and span the space between, the various frame members of the building. Their assembly typically employs mechanical elements such as screws or nails, and requires appreciable skill in the use of various tools by the person or persons who erect the structure. Further, such building structures are usually bulky to package and ship, largely because of the panels employed, usually do not offer significant insulation, and can be fairly expensive, although not usually anywhere near as expensive as a custom-built structure.
Some such prefabricated structures have been designed specifically to serve greenhouses. While they typically permit the use of glass or fiberglass panels to span the spaces between the skeletal elements of the building, some designs employ flexible sheets. One significant problem presented by such greenhouse structures employing flexible sheets is the lack of insulation afforded by such sheets. Further, such prefabricated structures usually are designed to a particular floor plan, and do not permit significant variation from that floor plan without extensive modification of the elements employed.
An object of the present invention is to provide an economical building structure, one which is easily erected even by an inexperienced user in a minimal amount of time. Another object is to provide such a building structure with significant insulation against environmental extremes of temperature. A further object is to provide a building structure consisting of components which, when disassembled, may be packaged in a minimal space for shipment. A further object is to provide such a building structure that is particularly suited to serve as a greenhouse, one which is easily adapted to any desired floor plan. These and further objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the building structure and preferred embodiments of various of its components.